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Donald Trump on Thursday stepped up his attack on his rival “Ron DeSanctimonious,” describing him as “an average governor with great public relations,” and claiming he meddled in the 2018 gubernatorial election to secure his victory.
Trump, 76, is outraged at praise for DeSantis, 44, after the ambitious Florida governor went to a second term on Tuesday, securing his place as the Republican frontrunner for 2024.
Trump himself has been convicted for his role in the midterm elections after many of the extreme election-denial candidates he supported failed to win their races.
As DeSantis’ popularity grew, Trump went out of his way to point out that he campaigned heavily for DeSantis in 2018, when he first ran for governor.
On Thursday, the former president went even further, claiming he swung the election for DeSantis, whose race against Democrat Andrew Gillum went to a machine recount.
“I was all in for Ron, and he beat Gillum, but after the race, when votes were stolen by the corrupt electoral process in Broward County, and Ron was losing ten thousand votes a day, along with now Senator Rick Scott, I sent the FBI and the US attorneys, and the ballot theft ended immediately, just before they ran out of votes to win,” Trump said.
‘I prevented his election from being stolen…’
Trump campaigns for DeSantis in Pensacola, Florida, on November 3, 2018 – three days before the vote
Trump flew DeSantis and his wife Casey, and Senate candidate Rick Scott, to the Pensacola rally at Air Force One on November 3, 2018
DeSantis, Trump and Scott all smile in Fort Myers, Florida, on October 31, 2018, in the run-up to the election
Trump claimed that DeSantis begged for his approval ahead of the 2018 election. The pair can be seen together during a campaign in Tampa, Florida on July 31, 2018
DeSantis has not responded to the allegation, and the FBI, the US Attorney for the Southern District of Florida and Broward County have not responded to DailyMail.com’s request for comment.
Trump’s press secretary, Taylor Budowich, did not respond when DailyMail.com asked if the former president would clarify his comments.
DeSantis’ 2018 election victory has not been contested thus far.
Trump insisted on Thursday that DeSantis owed his success to him.
“Ron came to me in desperate shape in 2017 – he was politically dead and lost in a landslide to a very good agricultural commissioner, Adam Putnam, who was brimming with cash and great polls,” Trump wrote on his platform, Truth Social.
“Ron had little approval, bad polls and no money, but he said if I supported him, he could win.”
In his PAC’s long-winded statement, Trump pointed out that the trio of News Corp media brands are “all up for Governor Ron DeSanctimonious,” whom he called “an average REPUBLICAN governor with great public relations.”
Trump also downplayed DeSantis’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, which polls suggest he has support.
The former president said Florida’s governor didn’t have to shut down his state during the coronavirus pandemic because of the “SUNSHINE, where people from poorly run states in the north would go, no matter who the governor was, just like me!”
Trump claimed Thursday that he interfered to prevent the votes from being counted in 2018
DeSantis Is Seen With His Wife Casey Celebrating His Election Win In Orlando In 2018
Trump (left), who voted with his wife on Tuesday, has now turned on his protégé. He sent out a long-worded statement Thursday night bashing DeSantis and complaining about the positive coverage DeSantis received this week.
Former President Donald Trump chided Fox, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Post for reporting this week that was complementary to DeSantis and accused Trump of his party’s underperformance in midterm exams
DeSantis, pictured Tuesday with his wife Casey and their three children, defeated Democrat Charlie Crist by 19 points to easily win a second term. Trump called DeSantis ‘an average REPUBLICAN governor with great public relations’
He then turned to DeSantis’ flirtation with 2024, as the New York Post and other media outlets have pointed to him as the future of the party.
“And now Ron DeSanctimonious is playing games!” said Trump.
“The Fake News asks him if he will walk when President Trump runs, and he says, ‘I’m only focused on the governor’s race, I’m not looking into the future,'” Trump said.
“Well, in terms of loyalty and class, that’s really not the right answer,” the ex-president added, apparently hoping DeSantis would say outright that he wouldn’t go against him.
While crowds of Republicans pointed the finger at Trump for Tuesday’s disappointing performance, the ex-president said it was just like 2015 and 2016, complaining that Fox was fighting him and that The Wall Street Journal was picking losers.
The editors of The Wall Street Journal released an op-ed on Wednesday with the headline: “Donald Trump is the Republican Party’s Biggest Loser.’
The ed board blamed Trump for bringing down Republicans in 2018 when the GOP lost control of the House, in 2020 when Trump himself lost the White House, in 2021 when the GOP lost the Senate and now in 2022 – then a historic precedent and the economic vote should have produced much better results for the Republican Party.
The New York Post’s “wood” or cover depicted Trump as “Trumpty Dumpty,” “Don (who couldn’t build a wall) had a big fall – can all the men of the GOP bring the party back together?” it said.
The experts at Fox News spoke so high from DeSantis in the wake of Tuesday’s midterms, that The Washington Post ran a story about it.
“The Wall Street Journal loved Low Energy Jeb Bush and a succession of other people who quickly faded from view and eventually caught up with me after easily taking them out one by one,” Trump said.
“We are in exactly the same position now. They will keep chasing us, MAGA, but in the end we will win.’
Trump teased that he was announcing his 2024 presidential run next Tuesday in Mar-a-Lago, despite some allies saying publicly they think he should wait until after the second round in Georgia as it is likely that the Senate will take control of that race will have .
But both Politico and NBC News reported Thursday that the plan was still running.